Flexible pricing arrangement for liquid dispensing apparatus

ABSTRACT

In a multi-grade liquid fuel dispensing apparatus wherein discrete blends of a relatively low-octane or minimum-octane fuel component and a relatively high-octane or maximum-octane fuel component may be selectively dispensed, in addition to either component unblended, and wherein the composition of the fuel grades is arranged in an orderly stepwise progression from 0 percent of the high-octane component up to 100 percent of the high-octane component, an arrangement is provided for allowing one of the grades (e.g., the low-octane fuel component) to be dispensed (sold) at various prices equal to or above those of other grades.

United States Patent Young 1 Aug. 1,1972

[54] FLEXIBLE PRICING ARRANGEMENT FOR LIQUID DISPENSING APPARATUS [72] Inventor: Einar T. Young, Newtown Square,

[73] Assignee: Sun Oil Company, Philadelphia, Pa.

[22] Filed: Sept. 24, 1970 [21] Appl. No.: 75,093

Related US. Application Data [63] Continuation-in-part of Ser. No. 50,019, June [52] US. Cl ..74/68l, 222/26 [51] Int. Cl. ..F16h 37/06, B67d 5/22 [58] Field of Search ..74/681; 137/100; 222/26 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2/1943 De Lancey ..74/68l 3,081,000 3/1963 Chiantelassa ..74/681X 6/1963 Steen ..74/681 X 10/1964 Jauch et a1. ..74/68l X Primary Examiner-Leonard l-l. Gerin Attorney-George L. Church, Donald R.- Johnson, Wilmer E. McCorquodale, Jr. and Frank A. Rechif 5 7] ABSTRACT In a multi-grade liquid fuel dispensing apparatus wherein discrete blends of a relatively low-octane or minimum-octane fuel component and a relatively high-octane or maximum-octane fuel component may be selectively dispensed, in addition to either component unblended, and wherein the composition of the fuel grades is arranged in an orderly stepwise progression from 0 percent of the high-octane component up to 100 percent of the high-octane component, an arrangement is provided for allowing one of the grades (e.g., the low-octanefuel component) to be dispensed (sold) at various prices equal to or above those of other grades.

4 Claims, 7 Drawing Figures PATENTED 7'97? 3,680,408

- sum 1 0F 2 {NVENTO E. Doll 1-072 P Klhscz77r PATENTEnAus' 1 I972 3.680.408

SHEET 2 0F 2 P i 1 f W FIGA INVENTORS E. Dqlwwvg BY/E? mmclnvek This application is a continuation-in-part of my copending application, Ser. No. 50,019, filed June 26, 1970.

This invention relates to a flexible pricing arrangement useful in a multi-grade liquid fuel dispensing ap paratus.

In my US. Pat. No. 2,880,908, dated Apr. 7, 1959 and entitled Apparatus for Dispensing and Pricing Selected Blends of Two Liquids, there is disclosed an apparatus for dispensing any one of a number of grades of liquid fuel (e.g., gasoline). This apparatus operates to blend together at the dispensing nozzle, in selected proportions, a relatively low-octane or minimum-octane fuel component (herein termed lo gasoline) and a relatively high-octane or maximum octane fuel component (herein termed hi gasoline). In addition to the blends, the apparatus is capable of dispensing either the gasoline or the hi gasoline separately, so that in general the number of grades which the apparatus is capable of dispensing is two greater than the number of blends. By way of example only, the apparatus may have a capability of dispensing a maximum of nine grades of gasoline, although it could be set up to dispense a lesser number than this, such as eight grades.

For pricing of the various grades of gasoline, the apparatus includes a price increment unit (termed selective gearing in the aforementioned patent) which receives as its input the total volume of gasoline dispensed and provides as an output the product of this total quantity by a monetary figure corresponding to the excess of unit price (price increment) of the gasoline grade being delivered over the unit price of the lowest-priced grade of gasoline (which latter was in prior practice the 10 gasoline referred to above). The output of this price increment unit (selective gearing) is then added to the output of a variator (which latter provides a price output corresponding to the multiplication of the total volume of gasoline dispensed by the price of the lowest-priced grade of gasoline) to provide a total price indication corresponding to the quantity of gasoline delivered multiplied by the unit price assigned to the grade delivered.

In order to properly correlate the incremental price with the grade of gasoline delivered, the price increment unit is reset in each operation of the gasoline dispensing apparatus concurrently with, and in dependence upon, the setting for control of the grade delivered.

The price increment unit is of a type which may be preset by a gasoline vendor, as he sets up his pricing structure, to select the incremental prices of the available grades above the base" or lowest-priced grade. As described in the aforementioned patent, in connection It may be noted at this point that the shaft also carries a cam (not slidable along the shaft) for the base or lowest-priced grade of gasoline, this cam rotating with FIG. 8 et seq. thereof, a cam shaft carries a plurality of angularly spaced cams, one for each blend of gasoline to be dispensed, plus one for the hi gasoline alone, these cams rotating with the shaft to actuate various selected idler gears into mesh with various driving and driven gears (one such actuation for each position step of the shaft which corresponds to an individual grade of gasoline to be dispensed). The selection of the particular idler gear to be so brought into mesh is made by the vendor, by sliding each cam along the shaft.

with the shaft to lock the output shaft of the unit against rotation, rather than to actuate an idler gear into mesh.

Although the cams can be slid independently of each other along the cam shaft in order to set the price increments, the order along the cam shaft is fixed, since the cams cannot slide past each other. It is also pointed out that the price increment unit provides for adding onehalf cent increments beginning with a one cent increment to the price per gallon (over and above the base price). This means that, with the price increment unit constructed as disclosed in my prior patent, the grade-price structure necessarily had to be orderly and regular, with the price per gallon increasing steadily and continuously from the lo gasoline through the various blends, up to and including the hi gasoline.

Under some conditions, such for example as when the lo gasoline is either a low-lead or an unleaded gasoline, a discontinuous or irregular grade-price structure may be desirable, specifically a structure wherein the 10 gasoline would be sold at a price equal to or above those of the adjacent blends. The lo gasoline might be thought of as a sub-premium or special gasoline, under these conditions. As previously described, the setting up of such a discontinuous or irregular grade-price structure is impossible when the price increment unit is constructed according to the teachings of my prior patent.

An object of this invention is to provide a novel price increment unit structure for blending-type gasoline dispensing apparatus.

Another object is to provide an attachment or adjunct for a multi-grade fuel dispensing apparatus, which will enable a discontinuous or irregular grade-price structure to be established.

A further object is to provide a price increment unit for blending-type gasoline dispensing apparatus which enables the lo gasoline component to be dispensed at a price equal to or above those of the adjacent blends.

A still further object is to provide relatively simple apparatus which enables the foregoing objects to be accomplished in an efficient and effective manner.

The objects of this invention are accomplished, briefly, in the following manner: In a selective gearing arrangement utilizing for selection (by actuation) a series of earns mounted on a common first shaft and slidably adjustable along such shaft, a separate actuating member is provided, joumaled on a second shaft which is parallel to the first shaft and slidably adjustable in a direction parallel to the direction of sliding of the cams. The first and second shafts are both geardriven from a blend selection shaft, and the arrangement is such that the separate actuating member is operated (thereby to actuate an idler gear into mesh with driving and driven gears) when the blend selection shaft is set to a position suitable for the dispensing of solely 1o gasoline.

A detailed description of the invention follows, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating the liquid and mechanical connections of various elements involved in a multi-grade liquid fuel dispensing apparatus;

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing a price increment unit according to the invention;

FIG. 3 is a vertical section taken along line 3-3 in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a vertical section taken along line 4-4 in FIG. 2;

FIG. is a sectional view, on an enlarged scale, of a portion of the mechanism shown in FIG. 3;

FIG. 6 is a plan view of a bracket used in the invention, with a slide member mounted thereon; and

FIG. 7 is a front elevation of the slide member.

For reference, a description of the overall operation of a multi-grade liquid fuel dispensing apparatus, to which the flexible pricing arrangement of this invention is applicable, will first be given. Referring now to FIG. 1, there are diagrammed therein various elements some of which will later be described in detail. The apparatus housing indicated at 1 may be of generally conventional type, locked againstunauthorized access, and provided with windows and various operating devices accessible from the outside of the housing. Where a dispensing apparatus generally is referred to hereafter, it will be understood that it is this housing and the parts contained therein and associated therewith, though possible in the future certain of the parts conventionally included in such a housing may be located elsewhere. Included in the dispensing apparatus is the lo gasoline (relatively low-octane gasoline component) pump 2 driven by a motor in usual fashion and provided with an inlet connection 3 from the supply tank. As usual, a bypass 4 is provided containing a relief valve 5 to bypass the pump in the event that the delivery hose valve is closed. The 10 gasoline to be dispensed flows through connection 6 and a conventional lo meter 7 and thence through the pipe connection 8 incorporating a check valve 9.

A pump 10 for the hi gasoline (relatively high-octane gasoline component) draws its supply of hi gasoline from a supply tank through pipe connection 11. This pump 10 may be of the same type as the lo pump 2 and is preferably driven by a separate motor. Associated with it is a bypass 12 incorporating a relief valve 13.

The hi gasoline pump 10 delivers the hi gasoline through line 14 to the hi meter 15 which may be of the type serving to meter the 10 gasoline. Delivery from the meter 15 takes place through piping 16 which includes the check valve 17.

The lo and hi gasolines delivered, respectively, through lines 8 and 16, are respectively controlled by the proportioning valves 18 and 19, from which they are delivered through conduits 20 and 21, which are connected to passages through a hose to a nozzle controlled by a valve, as described in my US. Pat. No. 2,977,970, dated Apr. 4, 1961. The hose passages are maintained separate, communicating with each other closely adjacent to the nozzle control valve, so that admixture of the two components cannot take place to any substantial degree so as to markedly change the composition dispensed.

The solid connecting lines provided with arrows in FIG. 1 indicate mechanical connections. The- 10 meter 7 provides one input 22 to a summing differential 23, the other input to which is provided at 24 from the hi meter 15. The output of the summing-type differential at 25 represents the sum of the two quantities delivered by the two meters 7 and 15, and operates the total gallons counter 26. This counter is arranged to indicate the total gallons dispensed during an operation, through a suitable window arrangement in the apparatus housing. A second output from the differential 23, also corresponding to total gallons, is delivered at 27 to a variator 28 in which is set the price per gallon ascribed to the base or lowest-priced grade of gasoline (which may be thought of as a pricing base gasoline). The output 29 of this variator then represents the total gallons of both 10 and hi gasolines multiplied by the unit price of the base or lowest-priced grade of gasoline.

A second output from the differential 23, also corresponding to total gallons, is provided at 30 to a price increment unit indicated at 31, from which there is provided an output 32. As will be described in detail hereinafter, the unit 31 effects the multiplication of the total gallons dispensed by an amount (price increment) corresponding to the excess of the price per gallon of a grade being dispensed over the price per gallon ascribed to the base or lowest-priced grade. The output from the unit 31 delivered at 32 provides input to a summing-type differential 33, the other input to which is 29, the differential 33 providing its output at 34 to a price counter 35, which is arranged to exhibit through a window arrangement in the apparatus housing the total price of the grade of gasoline dispensed.

Another output at 36 from the lo meter 7 provides an input to a lo gear box 37, while a corresponding output at 38 from the hi meter 15 provides an input to a hi gear box 39. The outputs of these gear boxes at 40 and 41 drive a subtractive differential 42, the output of which at 43 controls concurrently the relative positions of the 10 and hi proportioning valves 18 and 19. In brief, with particular settings of the lo gear box and hi gear box, if the meters 7 and 15 indicate a proper ratio of deliveries of lo and hi gasolines, the output at 43 is zero and does not affect the settings of the valves 18 and 19. On the other hand, if this correspondence does not exist, an output at 43 adjusts the valves to control the composition of the delivered blend. This is described in detail in my US. Pat. No. 2,880,908 previously mentioned, and also in my U.S. Pat. No. 3,232,484, dated Feb. 1, 1966.

The items enclosed in the dot-dash line enclosure 44 may constitute a blend control unit, which receives the informational outputs of the lo and hi meters 7 and 15 through which the two fuel components pass,

controls the valves 18 and 19 which deliver either a fuel component or a blend of the two fuel components, and actuates the counters 26 and 35 which indicate the volume and price of the fuel delivered. The blend control unit 44 is the heart of the multigrade gasoline dispensing apparatus to which this invention relates; the overall apparatus functions to receive and mix fuel components and to maintain predetermined proportions at all rates of flow, to select and change the blend, to deliver an unmixed fuel component or any predetermined number of blends, and to visibly record the volume and price of the blended fuel.

The present invention concerns itself with the price increment unit 31, and other items directly and intimately associated therewith. Other portions of the blend control unit 44 (to wit, the indicating and blend controlling portions thereof, including gallons counter 26, variator 28, price counter 35, gear boxes 37 and 39 and differential 42) form no part of the present invention, so need not be further described herein. These items are described in detail in my 908 and 484 Patents, previously referred to.

Referring now to FIGS. 2-8, a vertical shaft 45 constitutes in effect the output 30 (FIG. 1) of differential 23 and is driven through suitable gearing (not shown) from the actual output shaft 52 of this differential. Shaft 45 thus is the same as shaft 116 of my US. Pat. No. 2,880,908 and the rotation of this shaft corresponds to total gallons being delivered. Shaft 45 carries a bevel pinion 46 meshing with a second bevel pinion 47 to drive through input shaft 48 the price increment unit which is indicated at 31 in FIG. 1 and is shown in the figures now under discussion.

The output of the price increment unit is through shaft 49, pinion S0, and a gear 51 (journaled on shaft 52) providing the input 32 to the differential 33 (FIG. 1) wherein the output of unit 31 is added to the output at 29 from the variator 28 to exhibit the total price on counter 35.

The price increment unit 31 comprises a selective gearing arrangement constructed and arranged to add half cent increments beginning with a one cent increment to the price per gallon, and for this purpose driving gears 53 secured to the input shaft 48 are properly graduated in numbers of teeth with, as will be understood, provision for meshing with other (driven) gears having proper numbers of teeth for the pricings desired. Bell cranks 54 are journaled on shaft 49 and carry individual idler gears 55 which operate between the gears 53 and driven gears 56 individually secured to output shaft 49. Each of the bell cranks is provided with a cam follower 57 slidable therein and urged leftwardly as viewed in FIG. 3, by a spring 58, there being also provided in the case of each bell crank a spring 59 reacting between the follower 57 and a fixed element 60 of the frame in such fashion as to disengage a corresponding idler 55 from a corresponding gear 53.

A cam shaft 61 extends parallel to shaft 49 and has splined thereon a group of collars 62 which are individually provided with cam projections 63 arranged to engage the followers 57. The cams 63 are eight in number (for a total capacity of eight grades of gasoline in addition to the pricing base or lowest-priced grade), and together with a cam 64 (FIG. 4) which will be later particularly referred to are spaced at 40 intervals about the shaft 61, so that when this shaft is rotated in 40 steps there will at any one time be engaged with a follower only one of the cams 63 or 64. The carns 63 and 64 all rotate with the shaft 61.

The collars 62 are arranged to be manually adjusted lengthwise along the splined shaft 61. For this, each collar is fixedly secured between a respective pair of arms (not shown), the arms all being slidably mounted on a common elongated support (not shown), detenting means being provided at half cent intervals along this support for releasably retaining each collar at the selected location.

The steps in the gearing of the price increment unit are such that half cent increments may be added, beginning with a one cent increment to the base price per gallon. The arrangement is such that when any collar 62 is manually positioned to correspond to a certain incremental price per gallon, it is moved into alignment with the follower 57 of a bell crank 54 associated with a particular set of gears having a ratio corresponding to this price increment. For example, if the most righthand (in Hg. 2) collar 62 is manually set for a price increment of one cent per gallon over the base price, this collar will be in alignment with the most righthand follower 57 corresponding to the most righthand set of gears shown in FIG. 2. On the other hand, if the price increment should be one and one-half cents, the manual setting of this same collar to the appropriate monetary figure will bring it into alignment with the second follower, corresponding to the second set of gears.

The arrangement, as illustrated, provides for the selective delivery and pricing of nine grades of gasoline, comprising seven blends, the 10" gasoline alone, and the hi gasoline alone. The arrangement, as described up to this point, is essentially similar to that disclosed in my US. Pat. No. 2,880,908 previously referred to. Although the collars 62 can be slid independently of each other along the shaft 61, the order along the cam shaft is fixed, since the cams cannot slide past each other. This requires that an orderly and re gular grade-price structure be set up, wherein the lo gasoline is also the base or lowest-priced gasoline, and wherein the eight other grades must all be more costly than the 10 gasoline; the eight more costly grades may have their prices set to correspond individually to selected ones of twenty-three price increments (above the base) differing successively by half-cent increments.

It is desirable, for various reasons dictated by marketing policies, to be able to set up an irregular gradeprice structure, such as to enable one grade of gasoline (e.g., the lo gasoline) to be sold at various per-gallon prices equal to or above those of the adjacent blends. As previously described, this is impossible with the arrangement so far described.

The cam shaft 61 is arranged to be angularly adjustable through gearing 65, 66, and 67 (FIG. 4) from a selecting shaft 68. Gear 66 is an idler gear. The shaft 68 is provided with a transverse pin (not shown) to be engaged by a knob which is accessible from the exterior of the apparatus housing. As described in my US. Pat. No. 2,880,908 particularly in connection with FIGS. 11-13 of such patent, rotation of the knob mentioned adjusts the shaft 68 to one of nine selected angular positions to determine the grade of gasoline to be delivered.

The hub 69 of gear 65 which is secured to shaft 61 is provided with a cam 64 arranged to operate on the follower of a lever 70, this follower and associated spring arrangements being similar to what has been already described in connection with the followers 57. In this case, the lever 70 is provided with a finger 71 which is arranged to engage between teeth of a gear 72 secured to the output shaft 49 to lock this shaft in fixed position when a base gasoline is being delivered, the delivery of this pricing base grade corresponding to the position of shaft 61 at which cam 64 engages the follower of lever 70. Without this locking arrangement, the shaft 49 would be free to rotate out of control, and thus involve improper operation of the differential 33. What the locking amounts to is, in efiect, a zero input to the differential 33 (FIG. 1) from the output shaft 49, ggspite the rotation of shaft 45 (and also input shaft According to. the practice of my US. Pat. No. 2,880,908 the gasoline was also the pricing base or lowest-priced gasoline, which is to say that the locking action described in the preceding paragraph occurred upon the rotation of the selecting shaft 68 to a position corresponding to the dispensing of lo gasoline alone. According to one aspect ofthe present invention, one of the blends, instead, may be made the pricing base, since it may be desired in some cases to make this blend the lowest-priced grade under the irregular grade-price structure to be set up. Ordinarily, said one blend would be the first or lowermost blend; if by way of example a total of eight grades of gasoline could be dispensed by the apparatus, this first blend would have a composition of six parts of lo gasoline and one part of hi gasoline or six-sevenths 'lo and one-seventh hi.

Tomake the lowermost blend the pricing base, the priceincrement unit would be initially adjusted in the following way. The selecting shaft 68 would be rotated to a position appropriate for the dispensing of the lowermost blend. Then, idler gear 66 would be removed from its shaft, following which the cam shaft 61 would be rotated to a position (as indicated by a timing mark, not shown, on the gear 65 which is secured to shaft 61) such as to bring the locking cam 64 to its operative position, illustrated in FIG. 4. Thereafter, the idler 66 would be replaced on its shaft.

It is pointed out, at this juncture, that the cents-per gallon price of the pricing base gasoline is of course the quantity which is set into the variator 28 (FIG. 1).

If the positional adjustment described in the second preceding paragraph is made, the most left-hand (in FIG. 2) collar 62 would become the one corresponding to the 10 gasoline, which is to say that when selecting shaft 68 is rotated to a position appropriate for the dispensing of solely lo gasoline, the cam 63 on this particular collar would be in a position to actuate one of the idler gears 55 into mesh with a driving gear 53 and a driven gear 56. Since, as previously stated, the cams 63 cannot be slid past each other along shaft 61, the most left-hand collar 62 would necessarily be limited (assuming a total of eight cams 63) to providing a price increment of four and one-half cents, at the least, above the base price; this does not provide sufficient flexibility for the pricing of the 10 gasoline. It is desired that the pricing of the lo gasoline be adjustable to selected half-cent increments, from one to five cents, above the base price. According to this invention, the most left-hand (in FIG. 2) collar is omitted (assuming as above that the lowermost blend becomes the base or lowest-priced gasoline). In a field modification of an existing apparatus for example, this collar could simply be cut apart by means of a suitable tool, then removed from splined shaft 61 and discarded.

A bracket supports for rotation a shaft 73, which extends parallel to cam shaft 61. A gear 74, fixed to shaft 73, meshes with and is driven by a gear 75 secured to the blend selecting shaft 68. Thus, the rotation of shaft 73 corresponds to that of the blend selecting shaft 68.

A bracket 76 is freely mounted on shaft 73, so as to be capable of rotation with respect to this shaft.

The shaft 73 and its supporting bracket, previously referred to, are so located that bracket 76 is positioned near the center of the array of gears in the price increment unit, for example such that the center of the length of bracket 76 is approximately aligned with the set of gears corresponding to five and one-half cents per gallon price increment. The bracket 76 extends from shaft 73 generally in the direction toward the bell cranks 54, as shown in FIG. 3.

At the end of bracket 76 remote from shaft 73, this bracket has an integral horizontally-extending upstanding edge flange 77 whose plane lies at approximately 90"v to the main body of the bracket. A slide member 78 (see FIGS. 6 and 7) is slidably mounted on the bracket flange 77, so as to, be slidable therealong in a more or less horizontal direction in FIG. 2, the member 78 having a cross-section of approximately inverted U-shaped such that its legs can straddle the flange 77, as shown in FIG. 5. The slide member 78 has at one end thereof (the right-hand end in FIG. 2) an integral tab 79 which extends outwardly at approximately 90 to the U- shaped portion of this member. As illustrated in FIG. 3, tab 79 is adapted to come into engagement with one of the bell cranks 54, at the end thereof opposite the cam follower 57. It will be remembered that each pair of the bell cranks 54 carries a respective one of the idler gears 55, in the price increment unit 31.

A member 80, which may be the outwardly-extending end of a spring whose other (horizontal in FIG. 2) end is attached to a collar 85 pinned to shaft 73, is provided for actuating the bracket 76. Member 80 is adapted, upon appropriate rotation of shaft 73, to come into engagement with the rear edge 81 of bracket 76 and to rotate this bracket, as well as the slide member 78 carried thereby, in the counterclockwise direction in FIG. 3.

When the operator operates the apparatus to select the grade of gasoline to be dispensed, he causes a rotation of the grade selecting shaft 68. This rotates shaft 73 through gearing 75, 74. When the shaft 68 is rotated to aposition such as to cause the dispensing of solely lo gasoline, actuating member 80 contacts the rear edge 81 of bracket 76, rotating this bracket counterclockwise. This lifts slide 78 and tab 79; tab 79 lifts the left-hand end of bell crank 54, actuating one of the idler gears 55 into mesh with driving gear 53 and driven gear 56. The foregoing action causes a price increment to be added in by unit 31 during the dispensing of the 10 gasoline, in the same manner as that effected by one of the cams 63, previously described; the particular price increment which is so added will of course depend on which one of the idlers 55 is actuated into mesh by tab 79. The price increment which is so added in is of course with reference to the base or lowestpriced grade, which latter in the example hereinabove is the lowermost blend. Thus, the lo gasoline may be priced above this pricing base or lowest-priced gasoline.

The price increment setting mechanism just described (for setting in a price increment when solely lo gasoline is being dispensed), including bracket 76, slide 78, tab 79, etc., is capable of adding increments over a range of one through five cents, in half cent steps. To effect this, the slide member 78 can be slid along bracket 76 to various adjusted positions or steps, the direction of this sliding being parallel to the direction in which cam 63 can be slid along the splined shaft 61. Since tab 79 is not in line with collars 62 and 69 and cams 63 and 64 (shaft 61 being adjacent the upper end of bell cranks 54, as viewed in FIG. 3, and being separated from shaft 73, which latter is adjacent the lower end of the bell cranks), slide 78 can be positioned under the desired bell crank 54 independently of the positions of the various cams 63, to set the price of the lo gasoline at various prices above that of the base gasoline, which is to say equal to or above those of the adjacent blends.

The slide 78 is slidable along bracket 76 to position the tab 79 in alignment with various ones of the bell cranks 54, thereby to select the particular price increment to be added by unit 31 when dispensing lo gasoline. The slide is settable along the bracket 76 to any one of nine positions, from one through five cents in half-cent steps, and is provided with detenting means which releasably looks it in any selected one of these nine positions. A series of nine spaced holes 82 are provided in the rear leg of the U of the slide, the spacing between adjacent holes in this series being exactly the same as the spacing between adjacent detenting positions provided for cams 63, since these latter are also positionable in half-cent increments or steps. An appropriate number, corresponding to the value of the price increment, is stamped adjacent each respective one of the holes 82, as illustrated in FIG. 7. A spring clip 83, whose two opposite ends are secured as by riveting to the flat portion of bracket 76, has a central bowed portion 84 which is adapted to resiliently snap into any one of the holes 82, thus providing a detenting means for releasably retaining the slide 78 in any position to which it has been adjusted along bracket 76.

It may be noted that the adjustment arrangement for the cams 63 begins with a one cent increment to the price per gallon, as does also the adjustment arrangement for the slide 78. Thus, the arrangement is such that when the bow 84 of clip 83 is positioned in the most left-hand (in FIG. 7) slide hole 82, corresponding to an increment of one cent, the slide 78 will be insuch a position that tab 79 is in alignment with the bell crank 54 corresponding to the most right-hand set of gears shown in FIG. 2. Under these conditions, the slide 78 will be set for a price increment of one cent per gallon over the base price, and this price increment will be added into the summing differential 33 (FIG. 1) when the lo gasoline is being dispensed, as previously described. By sliding slide 78 along bracket 76, various sets of gears may be selected in the price increment unit 31 to add a selected price increment of one cent through five cents per gallon, in half-cent steps. Thus, the lo gasoline may be priced at l, 1.5, 2, 2.5, 3, 3.5, 4, 4.5, or 5 cents per gallon above the base price. As previously described, the first or lowermost blend may be established as the pricing base grade.

There has been previously described an adjustment of the mechanism wherein the lowermost blend is made the pricing base, providing an arrangement wherein the lo gasoline may be priced at from one to five cents per gallon (in half-cent steps) above this lowermost blend. However, another adjustment is possible, providing an arrangement which allows the lo gasoline to be priced exactly the same as this lowermost blend. Such other adjustment will now be described.

This last-mentioned adjustment makes use of what might be termed a fictitious or phantom" price base, the terms fictitious and phantom meaning that no gasoline is actually sold at this price. The price increment unit would be allowed to remain in its asmanufactured or as-assembled relation, which is to say that when the selecting shaft 68 is rotated to a position appropriate for the dispensing of solely lo gasoline, the cam shaft 61 is rotated to a position (as indicated by the timing mark on gear 65) wherein the locking cam 64 would normally be brought to its operative position, as illustrated in FIG. 4. HOwever, for this adjustment the cam-lever-finger locking arrangement 64, 70, 71 is rendered ineffective, such as by omitting or removing one or more of these elements, or by rendering them inoperative in some suitable way. (In this case, the most left-hand collar 62 in FIG. 2 would not need to be removed).

With this adjustment (or modification), the price increment unit output shaft 49 is not locked, and is free to rotate, when the selecting shaft 68 is rotated to a position appropriate for the dispensing of solely lo gasoline. Thus, when solely lo gasoline is being dispensed, the elements 73-84 will operate in the manner previously described, to add a selected price increment (for example, two cents per gallon), but in this case the price increment will be added to a fictitious or phantom base price set into the variator 28 (FIG. 1).

Under these conditions, when the selecting shaft 68 is rotated to a position appropriate for the dispensing of the lowermost blend, the cam 63 corresponding to this position of the shaft will be brought into operative relation with its follower 57 to add a selected price increment (which may be two cents per gallon, depending upon the lengthwise adjustment of this cam along shaft 61). When the lowermost blend is being dispensed, this latter selected price increment will be added to the same fictitious or phantom base price set into the variator.

Thus, the 10 gasoline and the lowermost blend may be priced exactly the same (in the example given, each is two cents per gallon above the same fictitious" base price set into the variator). The last-described adjustment (or modification) thus provides additional flexibility for the pricing structure.

The invention claimed is:

1. In a selective gearing arrangement, a group of gear elements arranged in a longitudinally-extending array, the subgroups of said group providing individual gear ratios, between a driving shaft and a driven shaft, which vary in regular fashion from one end to the other of the array; a control shaft, a first selecting shaft extending parallel to said array and driven from said control shaft, a plurality of actuating elements individually slidable along said first selecting shaft and settable at preselected locations therealong for selecting respective subgroups of said group for possible operation while leaving other subgroups inactive, said actuating elements being rotatable by said first selecting shaft to individually select for operation gear elements of a respective subgroup, the particular actuating element which is active, and the subgroup which is selected thereby, depending upon the angular position of said control shaft and of said first selecting shaft and an actuating member spaced from said first selecting shaft and operable independently thereof to select for operation gear elements of one of said subgroups in response to the rotation of said control shaft to a preselected angular position;

2. Arrangement according to claim 1, wherein said actuating member is operated by means of a second UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE QEWQAEE @F QQRECHQN Patent NO. a sso aoa Dated August 1, 1972 Inventor(s) Einar To Young It is certified that error appears in the above-identified patent and that said Letters Patent are hereby corrected as shown below:

Cancel the 2 sheets of drawing and substitute the'attached sheets in their place. Cancel the figure illustrated on the front page format and substitute Fig, 2 of the attached drawings.

Signedand sealed this 26th day of December 1972.

(SEAL) Attest:

EDWARD M.FLETCHER,JR. ROBERT GOTTSCHALK Attesting Officer Commissioner of Patents FORM uscoMM-oc scam-ps9 Q US GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE! 959 0-365-33.

Patent Noe, 3 680 408 Dated August 1 1972 Inventwr Eimar T6 Ynung fiEEY i BF 3 PI i.

C. a D; E gr-Q" v "fill! I 4/ VALVE VALVE a 44 f I 5'7 39 I I SUBTRACTIVE I" GEAR BOX DIFFERENTIAL; on? BOX 40 I 4/ jaw PRICE 5 COUNTER f 12 MM E 4 PRICE INCREMENT SUMMING 55 UNIT DIFFERENTIAL #5? VARIATOR fg T K 27 .4 2a /7 25 2? 2 SUMMING DIFFERENTIAL 25 1 TOTAL GALLONS jp' INVENTOR, E l NAR T. YOUNG I ATYY,

August 1,1972

Dated Patent Noe. 3 680 408 Inventor Einar jf Ycgpg saw 2 0F 3 H EMW m ,0 m 4 F IG14.

FIGS.

ugvznvon; EINAR T. YOUNG August 1 Dated Patent No, 3,680,408 Inventor Einar '1. Young sum 3 0? 3 Fl (3. v7.

Tuv'nnom EINAR T POUN J M/IL. 

1. In a selective gearing arrangement, a group of gear elements arranged in a longitudinally-extending array, the subgroups of said group providing individual gear ratios, between a driving shaft and a driven shaft, which vary in regular fashion from one end to the other of the array; a control shaft, a first selecting shaft extending parallel to said array and driven from said control shaft, a plurality of actuatIng elements individually slidable along said first selecting shaft and settable at preselected locations therealong for selecting respective subgroups of said group for possible operation while leaving other subgroups inactive, said actuating elements being rotatable by said first selecting shaft to individually select for operation gear elements of a respective subgroup, the particular actuating element which is active, and the subgroup which is selected thereby, depending upon the angular position of said control shaft and of said first selecting shaft and an actuating member spaced from said first selecting shaft and operable independently thereof to select for operation gear elements of one of said subgroups in response to the rotation of said control shaft to a preselected angular position.
 2. Arrangement according to claim 1, wherein said actuating member is operated by means of a second selecting shaft which is driven from said control shaft.
 3. Arrangement of claim 2, wherein the axes of said first and second selecting shafts are parallel to each other.
 4. Arrangement according to claim 1, wherein said actuating member is adjustable in the longitudinal direction of said array, thereby to enable a preselection of the particular one subgroup which is selected for operation by said member. 